Spelt Sourdough Bread

This is the second 100% spelt bread I made and my first use of spelt berries. It's a very hearty bread for the whole grain lover. Goes very well with liverwurst, prosciutto, cheese, etc. The recipe produces two smaller breads.

Sourdough

• 25g (7/8 oz) white spelt flour
• 25ml (7/8 oz) water
• 5g (1/4 oz) spelt or wheat sourdough starter

Since I usually don't have spelt sourdough - it's a lot less common to be used - I usually use wheat sourdough starter, which is from the same family of grains.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Cover with lid and let the dough proof for 16-18 hours.

Soaker

• 500g (1 lb 5/8 oz) spelt berries
• 75g (2 1/2 oz) molasses (I used agave sirup instead)
• 2l (8  1/2) cups of water 

 Place spelt berries in a pot, pour water over and bring to a boil. Keep boiling for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Then drain the berries well with a colander and transfer to a bowl. Mix in the molasses (or sirup) and let cool completely.


Main Dough

• Sourdough
• Soaker
• 500g (1 lb 5/8 oz) white spelt flour
• 15g (2 Tsp) salt
• 20g fresh yeast or 3 tsp Active Dry Yeast, 1 1/2 tsp of sugar and 80ml (2 3/4oz) of water, mixed and let stand for about 10 minutes
• 325ml (1 1/3 cup) luke warm water

If you use fresh yeast, dissolve in the water and transfer into a mixing bowl. Mix in the flour and add sourdough and salt. If you use dry yeast as prepared above just add to the bowl with the other ingredients. Knead for about 4 minutes on low speed (I set it to 1 on my kitchen aid mixer) and another 4 minutes on slightly higher speed (I set to 2). Then stir in the berries with a spatula.

Place the dough on a floured surface and cover with a linen cloth. Let rest for 20 minutes. During resting period, fold the dough once or twice (I did it two times). To do that, just flatten it a little bit and fold from the edge towards the middle and press it down. Go around the dough doing that until it's round again and turn it over.

Divide the dough in half and form 2 loafs of bread. Transfer onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, sprinkle some spelt four on, cover with linen cloth and let rest for another 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 485°F (250°C).

Transfer baking sheet into oven (middle rack) and spray in water. Bake for 10 minutes, then open door shortly to let the steam out, reduce temperature to 410°F (210°C) and continue to bake with falling temperature for 30-35 minutes.

To check if the bread is done, knock on the bottom, it should sound a little hollow. Let cool on a cooling rack.

Original recipe by Bernd Armbrust, published by GU in the book "Brot".